


Who are they ?

by Laevateinn



Series: SPN's Season 15 codas and inspired stories [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Bittersweet, Multi, Post-Canon, Sign Language (briefly), They beat God, but at what cost, cas is a winchester, selective mutism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:08:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26955634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laevateinn/pseuds/Laevateinn
Summary: “Who are they ?” the kid asked, looking at a picture of three people on the mantlepiece.“Family.”“And ?”“They saved the world.”“Come on, Clay, tell me about them. Nobody ever does.”A discussion between a youg hunter and the daughter of another hunter family.How I imagine the ending... and the after.(Vague on purpose, to keep the identities of the characters a secret)
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester, Kaia Nieves/Claire Novak
Series: SPN's Season 15 codas and inspired stories [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2014942
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	Who are they ?

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone !  
> It had been a long time since I wrote anything (other than an ongoing original work with a friend in my first language), but this idea has been here for... well months now, so I had to do something about it.  
> This was supposed to be 500/600 words long... but then it got out of end (and time, this was supposed to be posted hours ago).
> 
> I actually made myself cry a bit at the very end... let me know if it did somethiing to you !

It was almost the end of October, Samhain getting closer. The weather in South Dakota was depressing : cold air, humidity and an overall gloomy feel. All too well accorded to the mood of the young woman, currently staring at the leaves falling off a tree in the garden. She had been left behind to keep an eye on a small kid while the others were preparing in case of a hunting related emergency.

“Who are they ?” the kid asked, looking at a picture of three people on the mantlepiece.

“Family.”

“And ?”

“They saved the world.”

“Come on, Clay, tell me about them. Nobody ever does.” Faced with the pleading look of the child, the young woman sighed and, taking the picture in hand, sat on the sofa. She patted the place on her left and the kid snuggled against her.

“So when you say family, is it like me and you ?”

“Only for one of them, the other …”she pointed at the figure in the middle, “is related to you by blood.” _And the first to me, somehow_ , she left unsaid.

“So how did everybody meet ?” The young woman thought about her answer for half a minute. She knew most of the story, having been told bits here and there by different people over the years. But how to explain it to a child who didn’t know about the supernatural ? Who thought her parents where working for pest control and occasionally helping the police ?

“Well, I’m not completely sure”, she half-lied. “They met when I was a couple years older than you.”

“So you grew up with them ?”

“I knew they existed, but no. To be honest, I didn’t like them very much for a rather long time.”

“Really ? Why ?”, the little girl asked, brown eyes open wide.

“Will you quit interrupting me, munchkin ?” Emily nodded, her brown hair falling into her eyes in the process. “I didn’t like them at the beginning, because they hurt me. It took me a long time to understand that they hadn’t meant to, didn’t even consider it. I almost did something very bad a couple years later. Fortunately, they prevented it, and offered me a new home.”

“With them ?” the girl asked, turning around and putting her head on the young woman’s lap while she extended her legs on the sofa.

“The three of them, well two most of the time, weren’t really suited for that back then. So they left me with one of their friends. It wasn’t easy at first, but we ended up forming a family, with other misfits like me.”

“Aunt Jody ?” “Hmhm. I was the second one she took in, after Alex, then Patience came to live with us. And later, she helped Kaia get back on her feet as well.”

“She’s a cool mom !” “Yeah, we were very lucky. And thanks to her, all of our weird family stuck together.”

“And them ?”, Emily asked again, pointing back at the picture. “They were part of it as well, of course, just like your parents and you are.”

The little girl nodded, then poked Claire in the ribs who tried to conceal a hiss. She had been hurt on her last hunt and wasn’t completely healed. “You didn’t finish their story.”

“You interrupted me.” Emily then looked at her, managing a bitch face at only six years old. Truly her father’s daughter.

“Alright,” she grumbled, “what do you want to know ?” “You said they saved the world. But how ? cause until now you’ve only said they met when you were little and you didn’t like them, so you almost hurt them but they found you a new home.”

“That’s correct.” Damn. She thought she could have skipped part of story time, but Emily was perceptive. “They saved the world from bad guys.” If you could call _God_ a bad guy, that is…

“Like superheroes ? With super powers ?” Affiliation with angels… probably could count as such yeah. “Sort of. One of them used to be powerful when they met, but then… the powers slowly disappeared.” “Lame. Why?” “I don’t really know.” She had an idea, but her family mostly avoided the topic, so the reason for the loss of powers … that was something she wouldn’t have answers for anytime soon.

“So how did they do it ?” “They used their brains, had help from a lot of people in the end. They kept their plan secret for a long time. Only them, your father and Jack knew.” Plus Billie. But then, a six year old with no knowledge of the supernatural didn’t need to know about Death for the moment.

“Jack ? The weird boy who almost never talks ?” “Yes. The three of them are the ones who saved the world. Your father was coordinating things with Jody and other hu-friends.”

“He was helping the police ? Cool” “Yes, cool.” Claire chuckled. What wouldn’t this little human make her do. Kaia wouldn’t let her forget this if she knew. “They had a plan, but it didn’t go as they wanted. But these two” she pointed at the picture, jabbing their faces with her finger, “had a back up plan.”

“What’s that ?”

“It’s a second plan in case the first doesn’t go as planned. Which happened. Except they hadn’t told the rest of us. Then, the sister of the bad guy came.”

“Was she bad ?”

“At first, that’s what we all thought. She caused troubles when she came at first, because she was angry at her brother, but then… she just left to live her life. We hadn’t seen her in a while, but they found her, and she had agreed to help in case the first plan didn’t work. So she came, and they executed the second plan.”

“The bad guy lost ?”

“Yeah, we beat him, with the help of his sister. But we lost the two of them. That’s why Jack doesn’t talk much when he comes, seeing us reminds him of them.”

“It’s sad... Maybe he needs a hug ?”

“I don’t know if I will do everything, but I’m sure he would be happy you tried.” It would probably do nothing, if he truly resembled his father, who used to carry guilt like a second coat,

Emily turned her head towards the fireplace, and Claire took the opportunity to look at her traits. The hard jaw line of her father’s side, but the dark eyes and hair of her mother. After a couple of minutes, the kid opened her mouth, took an inspiration, then closed it again.

“What is it ?” Claire asked, sensing the young one’s discomfort.

“Are they watching over us ?”

“I don’t know. I’m sure they try.” But the probabilities were almost null; it had been seven years already and neither Jack nor Rowena had been able to feel them.

“Do you think they were afraid ?” Emily asked in an murmur.

“Yeah. We all were. But they were also two of the most courageous people I know. And they had each other.”

“They were friends ?”

“Yes, but also more than that.”

Emily bit her lip, then her face lit up. “They were like mom and dad, and you and Kaia ?”

“They loved each other as much, but they had been hurt before and didn’t think the other loved them.”

“But… they… they died without knowing the other loved them ?”

“I think they knew, but they didn’t have time to enjoy it and be together.”

“That’s not fair !” The hunters’ daughter got up and folded her little arms on her chest.

Claire stood up and fell on her knees in front of the distraught girl. Emily rushed in her arms for a hug and shed a few tears over two people she had never met. The young hunter put her chin on the child’s head, who was too clever and empathic for her age.

She sniffled one last time before she extirped herself from the embrace. _Can we go see them ?_ Not that surprised by the sudden muteness of the little girl -after all it ran in the family- she signed back, briefly searching for the proper gestures. _I’ll ask your parents. Do you want hot chocolate while we wait ?_

At this, Emily gave her a tentative smile, so Claire headed to the kitchen with her phone. She got the permission quickly after she had made two cups. She gathered a couple things and warm clothes while the child drank. Quickly after that, they got in the car in silence.

They arrived at the cemetery a good half an hour later, Emily having wanted to pick up a little bouquet of white flowers. They entered hand in hand and walked in silence to the grave, in a secluded part of the cemetery. They had had to pick up this place, because… well they didn’t really have anything to bury. There were already some flowers all around the tombstone, probably left by other hunters or someone of their extended family. As the two girls arrived, Emily let go of Claire’s hand and lay the flowers on the ground.

Claire closed her eyes, allowing the memories of this frightful day come to her mind. _The general anxiety, mixed with adrenaline and uncertainty. The pure terror a lot of the hunters had felt when God had appeared, then again when the first plan hadn’t worked. The brief relief when Amara answered their call, the adrenaline as they all rushed into battle against the monsters that had made an appearance on God’s order._

_She could almost feel the stillness that had taken control of the battlefield just before their two heroes had shared their first and last kiss, taken hold of their and Amara’s hands, and disappeared in a flash of light. When they had recovered their eyesight, it had been to discover the charred body of Chuck in the middle of a crater, Jack and Billie scrutinising it. They had nodded, sign that the humans had won the battle. Then the silence had been broken by the scream of the last Winchester, falling on his knees. Jack had rushed to him and they had stayed tangled on the ground for hours._

The young woman opened her eyes, sight landing on Emily who was looking at her sadly. It was only when the child hugged her that she realised she was crying. With blurry eyes, she looked at the tombstone. It was simple, and held a single inscription above the pair of wings framing a riffle.

_To Dean and Castiel Winchester_


End file.
